Speed Writing Activity

Today in class, Dr. Kist went over some strategies for his students to think about using while making their 10-day unit plans. One that I have never done before was the Speed Writing Activity. This is how it works:

1. Students are given a certain amount of time to read. Students can be given 2-5 minutes.

2. Then, students are given a certain amount of time to summarize what they have read. Students can be given 1-3 minutes for this.

(Keep in mind, all activities can be modified to fit a specific lesson.)

The reason why I liked this activity was because it forced me to pay attention to what I was reading. For some reason, putting a short time constraint on my reading time made me focus more than I normally would. I also knew I would need to write something about my reading, so I wanted to read carefully.

This exercise forces students to paraphrase what they have just read. By doing this exercise, teachers will be able to know if their student were able to understand the reading assignment.